The One Thing Christians Won’t Do
Regla I’m tempted to discouragement on occasion. It’s oh-so-rare to find a lost fellow (or lady) in America who is open to the Gospel. Are there still a lot of church-goers? Sure. But not many are saved. Lots of supposed Christians go through the Sunday-service motions, but don’t even try to live within a Christian worldview. A fellow recently told me that his pastor got in trouble with the congregation because the service ran over, interfering with Sunday pro football on TV. In the area we now live in, the major topic of conversation on Sunday morning – in the churches – is LSU football, especially from August until January. It’s the most popular religion in this area, by far.
Besides professing Christendom, there are more worldview choices in America than ever before, especially those who identify as nones . . . whose attitude is typically whatever. The mere proliferation of choices makes it all the more challenging for the lost fellow to find Gospel gold amidst the trash of humanistic lifestyles and philosophies. Multitudes of Americans don’t come close to a Gospel witness and are exposed only to anti-Christian propaganda within their cultural bubble.
Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in touch with reality. (I’ve written much on this site to make the case.) Deny reality and the price is stiff, tragically stiff both in this life and in eternity.
But this essay is about a bigger tragedy . . . the principal cause of America’s spiritual deadness. As hard as it is to find someone who would humble himself, confess his sins to God, repent from his sins, and put his faith, his hope, his lifestyle, and his worldview in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is even harder to motivate Christians to do one thing.
My wife and I have visited a lot of ‘conservative,’ ‘Bible-believing’ churches. In just the last two years, I have talked to many hundreds of ‘mature’ adult Christians in these churches, sometimes individually, on occasion addressing an adult Sunday school class. I have also talked to many pastors, and hundreds of other ‘mature’ Christians I meet when knocking doors with my grandsons to share the Gospel.
What is rare is to find any Christian who practices the Great Commission, who does 1-2-1 evangelism. I offer to train people, to partner with them, and I offer as many high-quality tracts as they can use – for free. Almost all the churches, however, have established a culture where ‘confrontational’ evangelism is despised. ‘Confrontational’ – that means walking up to someone and talking to them.
It’s not just ‘witnessing’ that’s despised. Those too scared to open their mouths also rationalize that handing a Gospel tract to someone is beyond the pale. And so America goes to Hell without a warning. The liberals, socialists, and other anti-Christians are in our faces all the time, in the news, in politics, in the media, and in education, indoctrinating kids from pre-school through graduate school. But the Christians are too scared, too disobedient, too wimpy . . . and perhaps, too lost . . . to give someone a chance to know the Lord Jesus, to find purpose in this life and citizenship in the New Heaven and New Earth. Nope, Christians are just too busy with social media, rock and roll ‘worship’ services, making money, buying toys, and talking football. All the churches demand of their members is to show up, shut up, and pay up.
I’ve been challenged, “I don’t agree with the idea of giving out tracts. You ought to be sharing the Gospel personally.” As I opine in my essay, Tracts – Choosing and Using: Most of the ice-cold hearts that say this won’t share the Gospel verbally with five people in a year. Others are even worse. They’ll say, “I believe in building relationships and friendships in order to share the Gospel.” Duh. Of course we should be sharing the Gospel in the course of building relationships! But what about the thousands and tens of thousands of lost sinners within your reach that you never befriend? Just how many real relationships do you have?
But it’s worse than that. Most of those who aren’t active in tracting are also not alert to take the opportunity to engage a lost soul in conversation. Many of the 121 encounters I’ve had started with me simply giving a Gospel tract to someone. For example:
Me: “Hi, how are ya doing? Here’s a free gift, something to stimulate your mind.”
Him: “What is it?”
Me: “It’s about the big stuff: life, death, Heaven, Hell, what life is all about. Ever think about the big stuff?”
Him: “Sure, all the time.”
Me: “So, here’s the big question. If you died today, where would you be? Whatcha think?”
And off we go. Within 30 seconds of saying hi to a complete stranger we’re having the most serious and important conversation he’s ever likely to have on this Earth. Pretty complicated, huh? And just way too confrontational for those pseudo-sophisticated despisers of Gospel tracts.
Most people won’t stop to talk, so it will more often look like this:
Me: “Hi, how are ya doing? Here’s a free gift, something to stimulate your mind. Check it out.”
Him: “Thanks.”
Me: “God Bless you.” (Smile and walk away.)
Today, two young adult workers on break were talking to each other as I approached. They were using foul language, but when I gave them their tracts and said, “God bless you,” guess what they both said as I turned to walk away . . . Yep, “God bless you.” Amazing.
Now, not everyone will talk to me . . . or to you. So at least give them a chance to read the Good News of salvation in a Gospel tract . . . a good tract, of course. See my “Tracts” essay for an analysis, and especially our own designs at ThinkTracts.com. When I visit a campus or the city streets to meet people, I’ve only got about ten serious 121s in me before I’m fairly exhausted physically and emotionally. But I may be able to hand out hundreds of tracts (on campus or on a street corner). When we lived near Chicago, I could hand out 2,000 on a typical weekday in the downtown area. Here, in Lousiana, we get out 300 – 500 every week, a few by knocking doors, but many by simply making an effort as we do errands around town.
Furthermore, those who neglect tracting, and thereby create few opportunities for 121s, also tend to fail miserably in sharing the Gospel with people they know well. Well practiced in cowardice, they never get around to the life / death / Heaven / Hell conversation with a lost coworker, neighbor, grandparent, or “friend.” Some “friend” they are if they never share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (See also Matthew 10:32-33. Could that be your fate, despite your protests that you really know Jesus as your Savior?)** And if they do get around to it, the effort is often weak and compromised. Hey, I’m not kidding. That’s the way this usually works. I’m thinking right now of “Christians” I know who have watched unbelieving relatives die . . . lost . . . yet found excuses to avoid offering a plea for repentance.
I’ve learned to enjoy errands rather than to avoid them. Sometimes I even create an errand just to make sure we cross paths with people. When we stopped the other day to fill our gas tank, my wife went inside to pay cash. She gave tracts to the cashier and to two customers in line. (Don’t pay at the pump with your card! You’ll miss opportunities inside!) I stuck a few tracts in the advertising stands above the pumps. Two young men in the pickup next to me asked if I could give them a jump – their battery had just died. Afterward, I gave them several tracts and encouraged them to check out our web site.
Stopping for a leisurely fast-food lunch – in primetime – when there are more people there, we typically give tracts to everyone in the place, both customers and whichever workers might not be busy at a given moment. If we hang around long enough, we get more tracts out as new customers come in. We do this very quickly and unobtrusively. We’ve done this for years. On occasion a 121 opportunity arises.
You never know – but God does – when you might make a difference. A young, stressed out mom with her daughter collected their order at Taco Bell, but left without sitting down. We were about done eating, so I was able to catch her in the parking lot, just as she was screaming at her little girl to behave properly. Now that would have put me off, once. I got her attention, though, smiled, and offered her some tracts to encourage her. She calmed down immediately and thanked me before they got on the road again, headed out of state.
My grandson and I ate at Chick-fil-A last week. Guess who got in line behind us – the lady’s soccer team from a small Texas college, headed toward Alabama for a match. I got tracts into the hands of half the team before we ordered, and the other half right after we ordered. Great fun!
At the eye doctor I gave tracts to everyone in the waiting area. A mother and daughter turned out to be Christians. So we got to talk about the Gospel and how to do evangelism while all the non-Christians in the room got to listen in.
We don’t go out to the movies often, for obvious reasons. But we saw Overcomer recently. Good film! The issue of genuine conversion is well-presented in the obvious repentance in the life of the main character. I took along a stack of tracts, got several out to people both on the way in and on the way out, but most encouragingly, found a large group of young theater-workers on break and got tracts into all of their hands.
Shopping for groceries brings us in contact with lots of customers. Just be friendly, “Hi, how ya doin’ today?” Then, “Hey, here’s a gift for you, something to stimulate your mind. Check it out.”
Even in an area with a large population, it’s inevitable that I approach people who have gotten tracts from me before. Sometimes they’re happy to get more, sometimes they’re surly because they know exactly what the message is, but most folks are polite. I’ve seen statistics that indicate that for people who do get saved, it often takes 8-12 Gospel encounters before they respond with repentance and faith. If more Christians were out there doing this, I might have the pleasure of the 12th interaction rather than – almost always – the 1st.
Years ago I accidentally approached a businessman for the 3rd time, not realizing he was a ‘repeat.’ I had not gotten a 121 conversation with him on the other two occasions. This time, although a little irritable as he reminded me this was the third time (!), he decided to ask me just what my message was all about. We had a wonderful conversation after that.
I got a phone call once from an agnostic 20-year-old fellow who found a tract on his parked car somewhere “in the Midwest.” Certainly placed there by one of our friends in that part of the country. He had questions and wanted to talk. We chatted about 10 or 15 minutes and he agreed to do some homework, particularly by reading my essay, How do I know the Bible is true? Praise God for the Christian who made such a small effort, but gave that young fellow a chance to escape Hell and find the Savior.
Keep a stack of tracts at your front door. I give tracts to everyone who comes to our door. It’s easy.
You should check out some of our own tract designs. The phony scam of evolution has infested our culture and so I have a number of science-themed designs.
The first one below considers whether we humans are improving or degrading, genetically. Our 13-year-old grandson helped out by designing the graphic on the front.
Tract – What’s in your genetic future
You might also check out the video presentation he prepared, based on this tract at . . . Genetic Future video.
The second may be the biggest “slam dunk” against evolution I know how to deliver, addressing the spectacular, mindboggling complexity of the nanomachines of life. Get into this subject just a bit and you’ll experience awe for God’s power and brilliance. (Our grandson devised the DNA graphic for the front side.)
Another friend recently asked me why I continue to design new tracts. Why not just use the ones I’ve already got? Good question. I think it’s worth discussing.
- On the campuses I most frequently visit, quite a number of students have already gotten one or more tracts from me previously. But they are willing to read something new. Last week a student accepted a DNA tract from me and commented on how much he liked the previous week’s geology tract. That provoked a conversation with him for the first time.
- Different people respond differently to different arguments. The physics or chemistry major just might find the Carbon 14 tract really troubling for his worldview, while anyone might connect with our tracts on “Happiness” and “Unhappiness.” Some of the tracts are a bit more “technical” than others, but each one is easily accessible to anyone who stayed awake during her high school education.
- Over the course of a couple of years, I want to saturate a given campus with a wide variety of arguments, demonstrating that the campus religion – atheistic evolution – has nothing intelligent to say about cosmology, geology, biology, or the meaning of life.
- Some of the tracts I use on campus are more “general purpose,” including tracts on Love, Sex, & Marriage, Famous Philosophers, Famous Spiritual Leaders, Military History, and for this December, our Christmas tract.
- Also, EVERY tract ends with a Gospel presentation. Too short a presentation, you may object? No, I know by long experience that a first contact, whether by tract or by a verbal 121, is likely to provoke, at best, another contact. Significant effort must be expended to get a lost sinner interested enough to listen to God’s truth. And we pray that God ‘stays on their trail’ to provoke interest and conviction. Each tract includes a pointer to this web site, which hopefully serves to draw the seeker deeper or provoke an email contact.
- Every time I get out a sizable number of tracts, this web site gets a spike in hits. Occasionally, I’ll get an email or a phone call, but at least a good number of people are going another step by visiting the site. When I first handed out 600 of the new geology tracts, and the next week 700 of the DNA tracts, the site enjoyed perhaps 300 additional hits because of this modest effort. I have evidence that after distributing a stack of the “fossil tree” tracts on campus, that the site enjoyed at least 2000 additional hits. Apparently, that tract stirred something up. Why do I care about site visits? Each visit gives a lost sinner a chance to confront Biblical truth a little more.
- I’m quite content for lost theists, like Muslims, to get any of these tracts. Muslim culture apparently does not generate creationist tracts. Since many such foreign students are engineering or science majors, the tracts establish common ground while transitioning to a Gospel conclusion.
I use lots of other tracts, too, as described in the “Tracts” essay. In town and on the streets I’ll typically use my own tracts with a combination of Chick tracts and the small business-size cards published by OneMillionTracts.com. Altogether, I’m using about 25 different tract designs for various purposes these days.
Christmas season is upon us. It is so easy to give tracts to people in December by simply saying, “Merry Christmas! Here’s an early present, designed by a friend of mine.”
Tract – How Should a King Come
If you have been so negligent in your Christian life that you are not currently in the practice of placing or handing out tracts, not to mention actually engaging in 121s, then it’s easy to get started. You’ll find a unique satisfaction that is promised by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. You should also check out the how-to essays I’ve got in the Evangelism section, plus our free e-book on 121 evangelism in the e-book store on this site.
Tracts are so old-fashioned that they’re new again. Since virtually nobody is doing it, you’ll surprise people every time you go out. Just make sure you’re cheerful and the tracts are visually appealing.
Set goals. Determine to get out 10 tracts this week. When that becomes too easy, raise your goal. You’ll do more if you set goals. More means more souls touched. So few Christians in America try to get the Gospel out that most people I meet have never heard a clear presentation before. The exceptions are notable. When I meet someone who admits some other Christian is on their case, I can see the conviction deepening as I add arguments to what they’ve already learned.
So come on, get in the game. It’s wide open for new players.
A couple of more things . . . The challenger cited earlier had another ill-founded objection. He criticized the tracts I used for employing a tactic of “bait and switch.” He declared it unethical to start on one subject and switch to another. Sigh. First of all, “bait and switch” applies especially to economic transactions in which the seller is trying to fleece the customer. A Gospel transaction, of course, is all about gift, grace, and mercy.
The critic would have us lead off in our first sentence about sin and judgment, I suppose. Such a critic knows nothing of human discourse or of the Biblical pattern. Throughout my life I’ve noticed that difficult matters must often be preceded with a bit of rapport-building, a mite of common-ground establishing. Consider the Biblical pattern. At Pentecost Peter built much common ground with his Jewish audience before delivering the punchline. As did Paul on Mars Hill. As did the Lord Jesus with the woman at the well. Read a little and you’ll easily find a hundred such examples.
I’ll close with a historical anecdote (with which I begin Chapter 9 in my 121 Evangelism book):
The following account by W. Smith is typical of thousands throughout the history of evangelism. (It is quoted from Bill Brinkworth’s newsletter, The Bible View, April 21, 2011.)
While Dr. Coke was journeying in America, he once attempted to ford a river. His horse lost its foothold, and he was carried down the stream. The doctor narrowly escaped drowning by clinging to a branch which overhung the riverside. A neighboring lady gave him help in his distress and even sent someone to retrieve his horse, along with other kindnesses.
Just before he left her house, he gave her a tract about salvation. For five years the doctor toiled on in the cause of Christ in England and in America. Whether his tract had been destroyed, or had pierced a human heart, he did not know. One day, at a mission’s conference, a young man approached him and requested a couple minutes of the doctor’s time.
“Do you remember, sir, being nearly drowned in the river some five years ago?”
“I remember it quite well,” replied the doctor.
“Do you remember the widow lady at whose house you stayed at after escaping from the river?”
“I do; and shall never forget the kindness she showed me.”
“And do you also remember giving her a tract when you bade her farewell?”
“I do not; but it is very possible I did so.”
“Yes, sir, you did leave a tract. That lady read it, and was converted. She lent it to her neighbors, and many of them were saved also. Several of her children were also saved; a Bible society was formed, which flourishes to this day.”
The statement moved the doctor to tears. The young man continued, “I have not quite told you all. I am her son. That tract led me to Christ. Now, sir, I am on my way to the mission field to reach others.”
We never know what fruits we can produce, when we do the Master’s work.
- drdave@truthreallymatters.com
** Did you look up Matthew 10:32-33? Look it up in the KJV so it doesn’t get watered down. Shouldn’t you be worried?